1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a system for manufacturing and packaging cigarettes comprising at least one cigarette making machine, packaging machines for packaging the cigarettes in packages, cartons and boxes, a conveying system for the transport of pallets with raw materials allocated for each single article from a central store to a plurality of supply and removal stations of an intermediate store station which is associated with a production unit comprising at least one cigarette making machine and the associated packaging machines, a portal preferably completely spanning the supply and removal stations, a portal robot for lifting the raw materials from a supply station, the portal robot being movable longitudinally and transversely of a horizontal crosshead of the portal and taking the raw materials from the supply station, one or more transport means for conveying the raw materials to the individual cigarette making and packaging machines and an automatic tool changer at the portal robot.
2. Description of the Prior Art
For large-scale industrial manufacture of cigarettes at present cigarette making machines are used which can make up to 10,000 cigarettes per minute. These cigarettes must be immediately further processed, that is packed in packages, cartons (cigarette cartons) and finally in boxes. The supplying of the materials necessary for the packaging of the cigarettes presents logistical problems and as a result the permanent supplying of the manufacturing and packaging machines with a trouble free permanent flow of packaging materials is often not ensured.
For this reason a great number of different variants of such systems has been developed, in particular also from the point of view of simplifying the loading of the individual machines with the raw materials, for example blanks for packs, cartons and boxes, carton wrapping paper, inner frame material, cigarette paper, tipping paper, aluminum foils and cellophane or polypropylene.
From German patent 3,519,580 for example a system is known for manufacturing and packaging cigarettes in which a floor conveyor system transports pallets with raw materials from the central store to a supply station which is associated with a production unit consisting of a cigarette making machine and the associated packaging machines. On each pallet supplied only one uniform type of raw materials is present, this type of material being supplied by the manufacturer of said raw materials on said pallet.
The cigarette making machine and the packaging machines of each production unit according to German patent 3,519,580 are connected by a U-shaped rail for a robot arm guided overhead which depending on the requirements brings the raw materials from the supply station to the requesting cigarette making or packaging machine of the production unit and automatically carries out the tool change which might be necessary for this purpose.
In another system known from German patent 3,627,670 for manufacturing and packaging cigarettes there is associated with each production unit comprising a cigarette making machine and packaging machines a supply station to which the raw materials, that is tipping paper, cigarette paper, carton wrapping paper, inner frame material, box blanks, package blanks, metallized paper, cellophane and polypropylene, are supplied on pallets allocated for each single article. The supply station is spanned by a portal on which a robot can be moved in horizontal direction. The robot transfers the transport box blanks and the package blanks to a corresponding feed means whereas the other raw materials, in particular bobbins are transferred by the robot to a handling device of a carriage of an electric overhead conveyor trolley which can travel along a guided rail to the individual points of use. The handling device transfers the raw material to the respective use point, in particular a bobbin changer.
It is however not possible with the robot to supply the bobbin changers directly with raw material from the pallet because the robot can only pass the various raw materials onto a transport means which finally supplies the bobbin changers. In addition to the relatively long supply paths here relatively large redundance times are necessary to ensure the supply. Additional sources of errors can lead to total standstill of the entire manufacturing and packaging system.
In an article in the March edition of the 1989 volume of the technical journal "World Tobacco", page 17 et seq., under the title "FOUND--THE MISSING LINK OF AUTOMATIC STORES-TO-MACHINE MATERIALS FEEDING" an interface unit is described which is supplied by automatically driven vehicles (AGVs) and which is connected via a pnaumatic web transport system to a cigarette making machine. The pneumatic web transport system supplies the necessary raw materials, which are present in web form, such as cigarette paper, via a transport system operated with an air stream. At the interface unit various modules having storage stations allocated for each type of web comprising integrated bobbin changers/removal stations are provided which are connected to said pneumatic transport systems. A disadvantage of this known system is that bobbins have to be continuously replenished, in particular when the bobbin supply drops below a certain level. Since the modules have only a limited capacity, replenishment must be carried out very frequently. From economical points of view it is not practicable to increase the size of the modules. Moreover, it is only possible to prepare and pass on web-like materials for the supplying of the cigarette making machine.